


And Annie Makes Three

by Bur



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-05
Updated: 2013-09-24
Packaged: 2017-12-17 19:42:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/871276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bur/pseuds/Bur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The everyday trials of two young men trying to raise a little girl.  Shameless fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Four Years Old

**Author's Note:**

> Done for an SnK Kink Meme prompt wanting a happy family au with Bert and Reiner and their daughter Annie. I get the feeling this thing is going to get even sillier in retrospect every time a new manga chapter comes out...

Bertholdt and Annie had a ritual. After he picked her up from preschool, but before Reiner got back from work, they would go to the den and, because neither of them could be described as touchy-feely, sit on opposite sides of the couch. Bert would catch up on his college reading and Annie would watch cartoons that Bert was sure were too violent for her.

It was comfortable, and Bert was thankful for this quiet time between them where he didn’t have to worry about saying the wrong thing or maybe, somehow, breaking her. Annie was so much _smaller_ than he was.

Reiner had his own ritual. When he came back from work, still smelling of gasoline, oil, and sweat, he would sit between them and with a warm laugh pull both of them into a tight hug that left Annie wrinkling her nose and Bert with thoughts that he was pretty sure were illegal to have within a square mile of a child.

It was a good life.

***

_I have a good life,_ Bert reminded himself as he clenched his fists in his lap to keep from punching to woman on the other side of the desk. _It’s not worth going to jail._

He wished Reiner were here instead of him. He would know what to say, how to smooth this over so they wouldn’t have to go look for another affordable preschool. Reiner was good with people in a way Bert knew he could never be.

“Mr. Fubar, I don’t think you fully realize how much of a warning sign your” - a disapproving hesitation - “daughter’s behavior is. For the safety of the other children we have no choice but to expel her.”

A sweat broke out across Bert’s forehead and fought to keep from trembling. He’d never done well with confrontation and could feel his anger break like a fever as anxiety rolled through him. It left him lightheaded and unsteady, and _why_ wasn’t Reiner the school’s primary contact?!

In the chair beside him Annie glared at the floor with all the heat and fury she could muster. “I’m not bad,” she said stiltedly. Her lips began to tremble.

Bert drew in a long, slow breath, straightened his back, and looked the administrator - Rico was it? - in the eye. “I still don’t understand why Annie’s the one being punished,” he said. “The fight only happened because they were teasing her.”

“She should have gone to her teacher. We don’t tolerate physical violence at this school, and we have given you plenty of warnings.” She adjusted her glasses and continued to fill out Annie’s dismissal forms. “Please sign here,” she said as she pushed a paper towards him.

“She’s _four_!”

“I think it’s time for the two of you to leave, Mr. Fubar. We have plenty of children waiting to attend whose parents have taught them basic manners.”

“Fine,” he said, signing the paper sloppily in his rush to leave the office that was feeling smaller and smaller around him. “Let’s go get some ice cream, Annie.” He picked her up out of the chair and cradled her against his chest.

Annie held herself stiffly in his arms and he had to adjust his hold after they walked out the door. Bert realized with a start that this was the first time he’d carried her.

“Sorry,” he said, and lifted her up a bit higher. “That didn’t go very well.”

“I’m not in trouble?” she asked. Bert looked down and saw her face was scrunched in confusion.

Bert sighed and thought about how hard it would be to find a preschool with a slot open this late in the year. “Maybe a little bit, because you shouldn’t kick people.”

“But kicking works,” Annie said, and sniffed.

What was he supposed to do? Would a good parent punish her? Bert had no idea, but he didn’t have any delusions that he was a good parent material either. One certain thing, though, was that he had to let Reiner know what had happened.

“Let’s go pick up Reiner for ice cream, too. He needs a break from work,” he said.

***

“We’ve had her a month and she’s already been expelled from preschool.” Reiner relaxed into the old wooden bench the three of them were using and let out a sigh followed by a short bark of a laugh. “Yup, she’s my cousin alright.”

Bert sipped his strawberry milkshake and leaned his shoulder against Reiner’s. “Didn’t know your family was so colorful.”

“Why do you think I’ve never introduced you? They’d eat you alive, Bertl.”

“Nuh uh!” came Annie’s high voice from Reiner’s other side, distorted from a mouthful of something very rainbow and covered in sprinkles. “People taste gross.”

Reiner grinned widely. “So our little Annie’s a biter too, huh?”

The pleased sound Annie made worried Bert.

“You know what I think?” Reiner said, looking between the two of them. The look in his eyes made Bert worry more even as Annie caught his excitement and sat straighter. “I think Annie should take fighting classes.”

It took Bert almost a full minute to find his words. In the meantime Annie was bouncing in delight alternating animatedly between pleases and thank yous. He tore his eyes from her and looked at Reiner. “But her problem is fighting _too much_!” he said incredulously.

“Exactly,” Reiner said. “So let’s give her a place where she can do it and not get in trouble.”

Bert supposed it made sense, but there was still a problem. “You’ll have to pick up some overtime or I’ll have to find a second job. Maybe both since we have to find a new pre-school.” He sighed. “TAs get paid the same no matter how many hours they work.”

He felt sticky fingers on his hand and looked down (she was just so _small_ ) to see Annie sprawled across Reiner’s legs and staring up at him intently with her large blue eyes. “Please?”

***

Their ritual had changed a little bit. Three days a week when Bert picked Annie up from school they went to an MMA gym for classes. Both of them. Reiner had thought they’d be good for Bert, help him out with his confidence, and he’d been right. Well, maybe not exactly right about the confidence, but Bert found himself more eager to get into the boxing ring each week.

Annie was doing especially well. She was getting in less fights and she even had a friend now, a little girl named Mina.

When they got home they still sat on opposite sides of the couch, Bert with a text to read or the gym’s ledger to balance and Annie with her violent cartoons, because they would never be described as touchy-feely. And when Reiner got home, still smelling of gasoline, oil, and sweat, he’d sit between them and pull them into a tight hug that left Annie wrinkling her nose and Bert wishing her bedtime would come just a little sooner.

It was a good life.


	2. Four and a Half Years Old

Reiner and Bertholdt learned very quickly to at least pull on a pair of boxers before they fell asleep.

The first time Annie snuck into their room happened only a week after they’d taken her in. Bert was dozing off, pressed flush against Reiner’s bare back and breathing in the clean scent of his shower-damp hair, when he heard the door creak slowly open.

He’d panicked almost immediately, because there in the doorway, backlit by the cheap plug-in night light in the hallway, was Annie. She was clutching a stuffed cat and standing there stock still, like she was unsure she could come in even though she’d already come this far. Berts fingers dug into Reiner’s ribs, waking him up with a start.

Reiner hadn’t panicked. He’d just told Annie to turn around for a minute, gotten the two of them pants, and pushed Bert over in their small bed until there was enough room for Annie to climb in. She’d stayed close to the edge, leaving a large gap between her and Reiner, but as Bert dozed off, pressed once again to Reiner’s back with his nose against the top of his head, he saw that Annie had reached over to grab Reiner’s fingers before she’d fallen asleep.

Reiner and Bertholdt had learned very quickly to fall asleep with some sort of clothing on, but they were only young men with young men’s weaknesses and eventually it caught up with them.

And that was why, when Bert woke up in a warm tangle of limbs, sheets long since pushed to the floor, and found Annie curled up sound asleep at the foot of their bed he startled so badly he smashed his elbow into Reiner’s nose.

***

“Bertl. Seriously. The hell.” 

Modesty had only been given the token nod of a sheet yanked off the floor and thrown across their laps. Part of the sheet was also serving the purpose of soaking up the blood that poured from Reiner’s nose, making his voice strange and nasally.

“S-sorry.”

Annie was watching them from the foot of the bed with far more stoicism than a four-year-old should have when confronted by blood and cursing. It made Bert wonder what kind of home life she’d had before Reiner had brought her to live with them. For all that he’d known Reiner since they weren’t much older than Annie was now, he’d barely met anyone outside of Reiner’s mother. He didn’t talk about it to Bert either.  
“Annie, could you get a wet towel from the bathroom?” he asked. 

“Okay,” she answered and slid off the bed, padding quietly in her footed pajamas to the dimly lit hall.

When he heard the bathroom door open Bert slid out of bed to quickly get the two of them something more substantial than a sheet to keep them decent. He sat on the edge of the bed and didn’t meet Reiner’s look.

“Cut it out. I know it wasn’t on purpose.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Got it!” Annie can running back in, water dripping from a hand towel leaving a trail on the carpet behind her.

“Come here and clean me up, kiddo.” Reiner slid to the floor and sat cross-legged so Annie could reach his face.

Bert watched, frowning, as she wiped his face gently with the cloth, not even hesitating when he winced or hissed when she touched a tender spot. Like she’d done this before. He wondered again what kind of life she’d been living, and if he’d been hesitant about Reiner bringing her into their apartment before he didn’t think he was now.

He sat down next to Reiner and took a corner of the towel to help out. “You’re starting to bruise up,” he said quietly.

“I’m not gonna get any sympathy at work. When I tell them you hit me they’ll figure I deserved it.”

“I’d never hit you,” Bert said. “On purpose,” he added after a moment, wiping Reiner’s lips clean.

“What if he’s bad?” Annie asked.

“Then I’ll make him sleep on the couch,” he answered stiffly. “But Reiner’s never bad.”

“Never?” Disbelief coated her voice.

“ _Never._ ” Bert used a clean section of the sheets to get the last bits of blood and dry Reiner off. 

“Ow,” said Reiner. “Damn, smiling hurts. Stop making me do that.”

“Sorry,” Bert said, though he wasn’t sorry at all.


	3. Seven Years Old

All things considered, Reiner was surprised it took until second grade for Annie to realize her family wasn’t like any of her friends’.  He didn’t know how she figured it out - if she’d been teased, or if a teacher or one of the other parents had said something - just that one day it was clear she knew they were different.  It was in how she wouldn’t meet his eyes when he got off early to pick her up from school, how she now shied away from holding his hand where anyone could see.  

Reiner had mentioned Annie’s behavior to Bertl one night, and he’d noticed the same thing.  “It’s just a phase,” he’d said while pushing vegetables around in a pan, “She’ll get over it.” But there’d been a tightness around his mouth that showed he was worried, too.

***

“You should talk to her.”

“Have you _met_ my daughter?” Reiner asked Historia-call-her-Christa incredulously.  “She talks less than Bertl.  If I didn’t know better I’d say she was his the way they both act like they have a word budget.”  Except on the rare day they felt like talking, and then all you could do was shut your mouth and ride it out.

“Still,” Christa said as she cleaned her hands with a rag, “even if she didn’t tell you much, you could let her know that she doesn’t need to be ashamed of you.  Children are vulnerable at that age.  Who knows what kind of damage this could be doing, right?”

“You really think it could help?”  Reiner set his coffee down on the breakroom table and leaned back in his folding chair, making it creak.

“I can’t know for sure, but what harm could it do? At least she would know what you think.” She set the dirty cloth on the table and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. 

Reiner had no idea why someone from a high-class family like Christa would choose to work in a body shop, but he couldn’t say he minded. Especially right now. Christa was easy to talk to. There was just something calming about her, and even though she was their newest employee she was already a customer favorite.

He sighed and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” But how would he even begin?

***

When Bert brought back Annie from the gym later that evening Reiner still didn’t know, but he called her over to the couch anyways. Bert tried to escape while mumbling something about a shower, but Reiner grabbed him by the back of the shirt as he passed and made him sit too. Sometimes having the smallest two-bedroom apartment ever had its perks. 

Damn it, if he had to have this conversation, Bertl did too.

“Hey, Annie, is there something going on you need to tell us about? Maybe something at school?”

“No.”

That went about as well as Reiner expected. The couch dipped a bit as Bert pulled his legs up, and one look at him showed he couldn’t expect help from that corner unless things got desperate. He hoped he could convince Bertl that having a “talk” with Annie didn’t count as a confrontation before their girl was a teenager.

“Look, we’re just worried that something happened to make you feel embarrassed of us.” He kept his eyes on Annie’s face to see how she’d react, and felt both validated and angered when she looked away. “I know we’re not much like other families. Neither of us is your dad, and you don’t have a mom, but we make things work, right?”

Annie brought her hand to her face and chewed on on her knuckle nervously. “They said it was wrong for two boys to have a girl.”

Reiner frowned, but, to his surprise, Bert was talking before he had a chance to say anything.

“It’s someone you like, right?,” he asked softly. “Or else you wouldn’t care.”

Annie blushed and started to shake her head, but changed it into a nod partway through.

Reiner rested his hand on Annie’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly. “Just because you like them doesn’t mean they can’t be wrong.”

She looked at him like that hadn’t even occurred to her. Maybe it hadn’t, but Reiner had learned kids were like that. There were just some ways they didn’t know how to think yet.

“Do _you_ think living with us is wrong?” Reiner asked, and he tried to ignore how his stomach clenched. Her answer wouldn’t change how much he cared for her or his willingness to be her guardian, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t hurt. He felt a tug on his shirt and looked down to see that Bert had tangled his fingers into its hem.

“I don’t think it’s wrong,” came Annie’s answer, slow and deliberate. “I like it here.”

Reiner mussed her hair. “Good. You need to tell them that, even if it’s an adult. Don’t let other people make you feel ashamed of yourself.” _Or of us_ , he thought.

“But what if they don’t like me anymore?” she asked. The earnestness in her voice was almost painful as she leaned towards him, balancing her weight with a hand on his thigh.

“Then they weren’t worth liking.”

Bert slid to the floor and squatted down in front of Annie, putting them at the same level. “It’s better if they like the real you, right? It won’t work if you pretend you’re someone else.”

Annie frowned, but nodded. “I’ll try.”

Reiner leaned over and pulled them into a hug. “All right, we’re done with serious stuff. Who wants pizza for dinner?”

“Me! Me me me!” 

Reiner could always count on Annie to get excited over pizza. It was some kind of universal trait for anyone under ten, far as he could tell. “Go get the coupons off the fridge.”

Annie jumped off the couch and ran to get them.

Bert took her spot on the couch. “I hope that fixes it.”

“Yeah. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

***

It was a week before Reiner’s work schedule allowed for him to take off early to pick Annie up from school. She took his hand without hesitation, and Reiner didn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day.


	4. Nine Years Old

Bertholdt elbowed Reiner in the ribs.  “Shhhh,” he hissed before turning back to the stage far in front of them where the Annual Fourth Grade Play was taking place.  

Reiner muffled his laughter with his fist while trying to hold the camera steady with his other hand.  “She’s just the angriest tree I’ve ever seen,” he whispered back.

Annie’s scowling face stood out among the smiles, both forced and real, among the other children.  Against his will Bert felt his face slowly pull into a smile, and then he was also having trouble holding in laughter.  “She really is,” he agreed.

The parents sitting around them weren’t nearly as amused.

***

Annie was sure she was being punished by Miss Petra.  She was sure about it every time she had to “blow in the wind” and saw the look on her teacher’s face.  It wasn’t her fault most of her classmates weren’t worth her time, but no.  With Miss Petra it was always “doesn’t play well with others” this and “not a team player” that, and now Annie was a tree.

This scene was indoors and didn’t even _need_ a tree.  It _had_ to be on purpose.  

She watched as Mina pretended to prick her finger on a spindle and collapsed dramatically to the floor.  Annie shook her branches “ominously” as the three Good Fairies - Hanna, Sasha, and, for some reason, Armin - gave exaggerated gasps, and she thought she heard Reiner snicker from the back row.  He couldn’t ever do anything quietly.

If he was taping this she would never forgive him.  Ever.

Who did she think she was kidding, she thought as she fidgeted inside the cardboard tree trunk.  Of course Reiner was taping the play.  It’s what made him both the best and most annoying dad in the world.

…maybe “never” was too long of a time.  She’d forgive him after five years or so.  But he’d have to _work_ for it.

Miss Petra waving her arms wildly from off-stage caught Annie’s attention and made her realize she’d gotten a little lost in herself.  It was already time for the fight between the prince and the Bad Fairy, so she shuffled over to the other side of the stage so she could be knocked down by the Bad Fairy’s “magic”.

Annie wondered if Miss Petra had written that part in especially for her.  She’d had the feeling there was something hidden behind the nice-teacher act, and far as she could tell this proved it. It kinda made her almost like Miss Petra.

At least she didn’t have to be Sleeping Beauty.  It’d be so boring to have to act like she was asleep while Mikasa and Eren - the Bad Fairy and the prince - got to fight.

Not that this is much better, she thought as Mikasa tossed some confetti and glitter and Miss Petra rolled a little orange smoke bomb onto the stage for effect.  It was the cue for Annie to tip herself over and she landed on the stage with an “oof”.

There were more laughs from the back of the small auditorium.  Was that Bert she heard laughing too?  She’d thought she could count on him to take her side, but it looked like she was wrong.  

The _traitor_.

From where she lay on the scuffed stage floor she could watch the play-battle between Eren and Mikasa, though some of the orange smoke was getting in the way.  It was pretty much just Mikasa throwing fake fire at him while he waved a plastic sword around, but it was still kinda fun to watch.

Annie thought it’d be fun to be the Bad Fairy, but she could beat up Eren pretty easily so it wouldn’t make sense that she’d lose to him.  Then again, Mikasa could also beat up Eren.

Maybe if they did the play again she could be the Bad Fairy, Mikasa could be the prince, and Eren could be Sleeping Beauty.  And Annie would win. 

Well, probably.  She hadn’t gotten into a fight with Mikasa yet so she didn’t _really_ know.

She didn’t know what she’d do with Eren after she won, but he was more interesting than her other classmates so having to keep him around wouldn’t be so bad.  Even if Prince Mikasa would definitely come after her every day to get him back. She was weird like that.

…Wait, no.  They didn’t have enough bedrooms at home. Annie sighed as Eren, with an enthusiastic yell, stuck the sword between Mikasa’s arm and her side, “killing” her.  

It looked like she’d just have to stay a tree.

***

Annie crossed her arms and stared at Bert accusingly when they met her outside her classroom to take her home.  “I heard you,” she said while frowning sternly.

Oh shit.  That look meant he’d get no peace for at least a week.  “W-wait,” Bert said, waving his hands in front of him.  “Reiner was laughing too!”

“Way to throw me under the bus, Bertl,” he heard Reiner mutter beside him.

“That’s different,” Annie said.  “I knew _he_ would laugh at me.”

Bert looked around for some distraction or a way out of this conversation, but there was nothing but the door frame and the painted walls of the school hallway plastered with the class’s art projects.  He could tell there was no winning this one.  From the not-so-subtle way Reiner was inching away from him he knew it too.  “I-I-”

“Mr. Fubar and Mr. Braun!  It’s been a while.  I’m sorry you weren’t able to make the last parent-teacher conference.”  Annie’s teacher, Miss Petra, appeared as if by magic behind her and rested her hands on Annie’s shoulders.  There was a steely look in her eyes that almost made him feel like he was still in fourth grade himself.  It said something, considering he was over a foot taller than her. She might even be younger, though it was hard to tell.

This was not the escape Bert wanted, but it looked like this was the one he was going to get so he’d have to make do.  If he was lucky Annie would be so annoyed by this that she’d forget she’d been mad at him.

“There are a couple of matters I would like to discuss with you, and since you are both here...?”

It may have been phrased as a request, but Bert knew better. There wasn’t a teacher in the world who just requested anything.

“Sure,” Reiner said.  “Hope it’s nothing too bad.”

“Your daughter’s still having a hard time working with others,” she said as she lead them in the room.  Most of the other kids had already bolted, but the ones that hadn’t been picked up yet looked over at them curiously and lingered.

“So it’s just the usual.”  Reiner glanced around the classroom as he spoke.

Bert did the same, taking in the decorations for spring.  The last - and only - time he’d been in there was at the beginning of the school year, at the first parent-teacher conference.  It had been covered in pumpkins then, in contrast to the flowers that were now stuck everywhere. The classroom was bright and cheerful; it looked like a good place for Annie to be. The desks were so small. It was hard to believe that at one time both he and Reiner had been able to fit in them. It’d be impossible now.

Miss Petra sighed and sat down behind her desk - a large, dark and incongruously intimidating thing - leaving Bert and Reiner to stand awkwardly in front of it with Annie frowning between them.  “I suppose it’s just ‘the usual’ for you, but it’s something she needs to learn.  It’ll just hurt her as she gets older.”

Bert swallowed thickly and silently cursed how he broke into a sweat at the slightest strain on his nerves.  It really didn’t do a thing for his credibility.  Or his nerves.  It was an annoying self-feeding loop that he’d always hoped he’d grow out of but never did. “No offense meant, I know you mean well, but Annie needs to learn these things on her own.”

Reiner nodded.  “Annie’s just that kind of kid.  She’ll open up when she’s ready to.”  At least he had Reiner to back him up on the important things, even if he left him on his own to face Annie’s anger.  

To be fair, Bert did the same thing.

“See?” Annie piped up.  “I’m just fine.”

Reiner rested his hand on top of Annie’s head.  It was large enough, and she was still small enough, that his fingers draped into her face.  “Stop while you’re ahead, sweetie,” he said.

Miss Petra gave them a look that made Bert wish he still had his old habit of placing Reiner between himself and the rest of the world.  “And I suppose she’ll stop fighting on the playground when she’s ready, too?”

Reiner scratched the back of his head.  “There’s no way to put this that’ll sound good.”  He ran his fingers through Annie’s hair, messing it up thoroughly.  “She’s made a lot of progress.”

“Progress,” Miss Petra repeated.

Bert elaborated, “Annie doesn’t start fights anymore. Usually.”

“But she still finishes them,” Reiner said.  He shrugged.  “It’s progress.”

“Eren wants to fight with me anyways,” Annie said and crossed her arms.

“Who?” Bert asked.  This was the first time he’d heard that name.  The discipline slips Annie brought home never mentioned who the other party in her fights was.  “Why?”

“He’s in our class,” Annie answered. “He wants to fight better, so I practice with him.”

They all looked at her silently.

“You know,” Reiner said, “you could just invite him along to the gym with you. You wouldn’t get in trouble for sparring there.”

“Wait,” Miss Petra interrupted. “You want to solve a fighting problem with more fighting?”

This was sounding very familiar.

“There would be supervision at the gym, and protective gear. It’s a better place to get it out than school, right?” Reiner turned his attention to Bert. “We should talk to his parents and see what they think. Maybe they’ll want to sign him up for actual lessons. There’s no way they haven’t gotten a bunch of discipline slips too.”

“More than me!” Annie said, and Bert couldn’t tell if her tone of voice meant she was proud she wasn’t the most troublesome kid in class or if she was proud of this Eren for one-upping her. “He gets in fights with Jean, too. A lot. They got suspended once.” Or maybe this was her way of approving of Reiner’s idea.

“Twice,” corrected Miss Petra. She pressed her fingers to her left temple. “They’ve been suspended twice.”

Bert was starting to feel sorry for the woman. It sounded like she had a very “exciting” class this year. He wondered if he should make Annie apologize for causing her trouble, but he didn’t want to remind Annie that she was angry with him. Not when there was a chance he could get out of that.

It was also sounding like Annie would have some “exciting” friends soon. It’d be good for Annie to have more than Mina to play with. 

He made a mental note to keep in touch with Miss Petra because they were definitely going to need help.


	5. Ten Years Old

There was a box in Annie’s arms. There was a box in Annie arms and, unless Reiner was going crazy (it _did_ run in the family, after all, and he had the prescriptions to prove it), the box was whining.

“Uh uh,” Reiner said, shaking his head and holding his hands in front of him. “No way.”

Annie stared at him silently, holding the box up higher. The noise inside grew more distressed with the movement.

“There’s _no way_. The landlord doesn’t allow pets.” There definitely wasn’t a note of panic in his voice. None at all. He victory would be firm and decisive. This was a battlefield where he held the advantage. Parent against child.

Annie held his gaze and her frown turned severe.

The box _cried_.

“Shit.”

***

“No, I understand,” Reiner said into the phone. “If he’s allergic, he’s allergic. No helping that.” He held back a sigh as glanced down to the floor where Bertl and Annie had the puppy on her back and wriggling as they took turns tickling her pink stomach. “Really, it’s okay. Yeah. Thanks, I will. Good night.”

Bert sat up, gently extracting his tie from the puppy’s teeth and smoothing the wrinkles out of his shirt. “No luck with the Jaegers either?”

“Nope. Turns out Dr. Jaeger has a dander allergy.” He leaned forward, rested his elbow on his knee and chin in his hand. “Maybe there’s a no-kill shelter nearby?”

“We really can’t keep her?” Annie asked.

Reiner shook his head. “We could get kicked out of our home for it. For breaking our contract.”

Annie pulled her hand away from the puppy, who took the opportunity to roll over so she could stand up and find some mischief to get into. “All right. I get it,” she said calmly.

It was hard for Reiner to watch. The other kids he knew screamed or cried when they got upset. When something bothered Annie, _really_ bothered her, it was like she put on a suit of armor. She let as little in or out as she could. 

His uncle deserved to rot in jail for as long as they could keep him, he thought venomously. Crazy ran in the family, but it wasn’t an excuse.

“It’s too late to take her anywhere now,” he said, “so we’ll have to block her into the kitchen.” Reiner breathed out hard through his nose, wondered if he was about to make a mistake that was going to leave this mess harder to deal with. “Maybe you can bring your sleeping bag in there and sleep with her so she doesn’t tip off the neighbors.”

He felt a heavy warmth as Bert, still sitting on the floor, leaned his weight against Reiner’s leg. “We should set down some newspaper for her.”

“And I need to run out and get some food for her.”

They watched Annie as she looked between them and the dog. Her hand reached out slowly and the puppy latched onto her fingers. She smiled - just a little - as the dog tugged on them.

He and Bertl were so screwed.

***

“We’re so screwed,” Reiner said while getting into bed.

Bert sat on the edge of the bed with his shoulders hunched, posture as defensive as it had ever been. “I was thinking,” he began hesitantly, but stopped.

Reiner turned on his side and reached out with his leg to nudge Bert’s back with his foot. “Hey, now, don’t hold out on me. If you have a way out of this without breaking Annie’s heart then I’m all ears.”

Bert looked over at him nervously and Reiner could see the sweat starting to shine on his forehead. “Maybe it’s time we moved?” His back slowly straightened as he spoke showing he had at least some confidence in the idea. “We’ve lived in this same place since before we took in Annie. But I finally have a good job, and you’re getting paid far better than when you started at the shop, so it’s not as if we can’t afford better anymore. So I think we should just move. It wouldn’t even be hard. We don’t own a lot, so just a couple trips with a U-Haul would do us. It doesn’t have to be a house, we could just find a duplex, or even a bigger apartment that allowed pets. And then we could keep the puppy, Annie would be happy, and we wouldn’t have to take our sheets to the laundromat all the time and get leered at by the creepy owner. I think it’d be completely worth the fee for breaking our lease.”

Now Bert had done it. He’d used up his word quota and Reiner wouldn’t get anything but “yes” and “no” for the rest of the month.

“Move, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t I think of that,” he said. He supposed it was because he was just so used to them not having any money. “It’ll be a little tough to find a place on such short notice that doesn’t try and cheat us,” Reiner said.

Bert nodded.

“But that would solve the problem. It’d be a lot easier to find someone willing to puppy-sit instead of actually keep her.”

Bert nodded again and made a kind of affirmative grunt.

“I like it. We’ll start looking tomorrow.”


	6. Ten-and-a-Half Years Old

Bertholdt couldn’t be certain, but he strongly suspected Reiner had purposefully arranged his work schedule so he’d have this particular weekend rotation. The worst part was that Bertholdt couldn’t be properly annoyed about it because if _he_ worked weekends he was sure he’d have tried to do the same. Reiner’d have to make it up to him regardless, though, because taking Annie to the dentist was just _terrible_.

“Annie,” he said to the locked bedroom door, “we really have to leave now.” The anti-anxiety medicine he’d been given by Dr. Hanji for her felt heavy in his hand.

“No,” came the muffled reply.

He sighed, reached up to the top of the door frame, and pulled down the spare key. It was a good thing Annie hadn’t realized it was there yet. They should probably get another spare made for when she did. Maybe two.

“Your toothache will only get worse,” he tried to reason. “It’ll make you sick.”

He was met with silence.

“We can get ice cream afterwards?” Bertholdt wasn’t above a little bribery to get things rolling, but when he still got no answer he unlocked the door and pushed it open. He looked around the sparse room to see where she could be hiding. 

He didn’t have to look long. Berry’s back half was sticking out from under the bed, tail wagging furiously. Bertholdt knelt down and lifted the bedskirt. Annie’s wide-eyed stare met his and he frowned anxiously back.

“I don’t like the the dentist,” Annie said in a tone that brooked no argument.

Unfortunately for him, Bertholdt didn’t have a choice. “I know, but you have to go anyways.”

“I don’t see why. My tooth only hurts a little bit. I can deal with it.” she said.

“The dentist only hurts a little bit too.” Bertholdt replied. “You know that.”

“I don’t like the dentist. She’ll poke at me and take my mouth apart.” Annie scooted back further under the bed. Her eyes were open so wide he could see the whites of them entirely around her irises.

For a moment, just a brief one, Bertholdt considered calling one of Annie’s friends - a little blond boy who seemed to be able to talk her into _anything_ in a way that made both him and Reiner jealous. Neither of them were very good at manipulation. The only thing he had was a pill, and it made him feel like a bad parent to use it even though he’d been assured otherwise. Even though in his mind he _knew_ otherwise.

“I’ve got some medicine that’ll make it easier,” he said as he lowered himself completely to the floor. Berry licked his face for his efforts. He gently pushed the puppy away and cleaned himself with his sleeve. “You won’t feel as scared.”

“I’m not scared,” Annie lied. 

“You’re under the bed.”

“So?”

“You _hate_ under the bed.” Dark, closed-in places were one of his daughter’s only weaknesses. The other, and apparently greater one, was Dr. Hanji.

Annie frowned at him for a few silent seconds and then held out her hand. “ _Fine._ I’ll come out.” The implied “but I’m not scared” was clear as a bell.

“And you know you can’t beat up her assistants again, right?” he said as he helped her out from under the bed. “We’re lucky they’re even letting you back in.”

“You won’t let them tie me down right?” Her voice was even but her hand squeezed Bertholdt’s tightly.

“I think that’s illegal,” he said hesitantly.

“And you’ll come save me if they lock me up and keep me prisoner?”

“It’s the _dentist_ , Annie.”

“And when they try to torture me for information?”

Bertholdt shook his head and frowned. “Where did you pick up all of this?”

Annie tugged on his hand insistently. “You will, right? And you’ll call Reiner for help? Because you’re not very good by yourself.”

“I’ll save you,” he said. “And I’ll call Reiner so he can come save me when I mess up.”

She looked at him seriously for a few moments and Bertholdt felt sweat start to break out across his forehead. “Okay,” Annie finally said. “I need a glass of water. I don’t like dry-swallowing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that took so long. This has been a hell of a year, I tell you what.


End file.
